Bobbin grip assembly for loom shuttles



March 10,1936. L V|$COLQSI 2,@33,41

BOBBIN GRIP ASSEMBLY FOR LOOM SHUTTLES Filed Jan. 5, 1934 AIL J72 0672 fwy lauds VsbcoZoszl Atzgw'.

Patented Mar. 10, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOBBIN GRIP ASSEMBLY FOR LOOM SHUTTLES" Application January 3, 1934, Serial No. 705,061

9 Claims.

This invention pertains to loom shuttles, and relates more particularly to bobbin-positioning devices for shuttles of weft replenishing looms. Such shuttles are commonly equipped with opposed resilient jaws at one end of the bobbin cavity, and the inner faces of these jaws are provided with several substantially vertical elongate recesses or indentations adapted toreceive circumferential ribs (usually steel rings) on the 10 bobbin butt so that when the bobbin butt is gripped between the jaws with its ribs or rings seated in the recesses or indentations of the jaws, the axis of the bobbin will substantially coincide with the longitudinal axis of the shuttle and the bobbin will be held firmly in place.

In order to insure proper registry of the bobbin rings with the recesses in the shuttle jaws, it is necessary accurately to position the bobbin lengthwise of the shuttle as the bobbin is driven down between the jaws by the doff hammer in replenishing. To this end it is common to provide the shuttle with an abutment having a substantially vertical face so located that by engagement with the end surface of a bobbin butt of standard dimension it will bring the rings on the butt into proper position to register withthe recesses in the jaws. There is also provided an inclined guide element leading downwardly toward the upper endof this abutment, so that 30. if the bobbin butt is not initially positioned properly longitudinally of the shuttle; it will slide along this guide as it is driven down by the doff hammer, until at the end of its downward travel its end surface will be in position to engage the 35. abutment member.

While in theory this arrangement should produce the results desired, it is not always to be depended upon, particularly when, through wear or otherwise, the bobbin butts are not allof exactly the standard or proper length; for-if thebutts are not of exactly the right length; the abutment member no longer cooperates to position them accurately with reference to the grooves or recesses in the shuttle jaws. Bobbins thus improperly positioned are not firmly gripped by the jaws, and sometimes fly out of the shuttle, producing pick-outs and waste of filling, or may. cause the shuttle to be thrown out of the loom, to the great danger of the operator, or

may result in, smashes and costly injury to the woven. web or to the loom itself.

Moreover, due to the sharpness and almost instantaneous character of the blow imparted to the-bobbin butt by thedoff hammer, the'inertia of the-partstends to prevent the bobbin from moving longitudinally with the requisite speed when it engages the guide, and it strikes the guide with great force, frequently chipping or splitting the bobbin butt,-deforming the rings, or bending the guide. 5

The present improvement is designed to avoid the above difficulties, and in particular toprovide the shuttle with bobbin-positioning means of such a nature as automatically to compensate for slight variations in the length of the bobbin butt and to insure proper seating of the bobbin ribs or rings in the jaws of the shuttle, and at the same time to cushion the force of the blow imparted by the doii' hammer to the bobbin, thereby to avoid injury to the bobbin and other 15 parts, and to insure a smoother operation of the replenishing mechanism, as for example by mak ing it possible to reduce the weight of the blow of the doff hammer.

To this end the invention contemplates the 20 use of a combined bobbin guide and abutment mounted for limited longitudinal movement within the end of the bobbin cavity, such guide and abutment being urged toward normal operative position by a spring, but being yieldable 25 away from such position when impacted by a bobbin. By the use of this construction, the first impact of the bobbin butt upon the guide causes the latter to yield longitudinally, thus cushioning the force of the impact, but as the 30 bobbin nears the end of itsdownward movement the spring becomes effective to restore the abutment and guide to normal position, and in doing so causes the abutment to position the bobbin longitudinally of the bobbin cavity, so that 35 the ribsor rings on the bobbin butt are accurately registered with and seat in the recesses of the jaws. The length of travel of the abutment is such as to permit it to. engage with and properly to locate butts of less than the normal or 40 proper length, and by reason of the yielding character of the-abutment the ribs or rings of an unusually long bobbin butt may likewise be Fig. 2 is a vertical section, substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1, but the bobbin is shown in broken lines in the position which it occupies just before it engages the guide;

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the improved guide and abutment device removed from the shuttle;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the guide and abutment removed from the shuttle;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a spring-equalizing element forming a part of my improved device; and

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the left-hand end of the equalizer element of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral I designates a weaving shuttle (one end only of the shuttle body being shown), such shuttle having a bobbin cavity 2 provided near one of its ends with the opposed, spaced, resilient bobbin gripping jaws 3 and 4 respectively. These jaws extend into the end portion of the bobbin body, where they are spaced apart by means of a block 3 (Fig. 2) and the jaws and block are anchored to the shuttle body by means of a transverse pin or bolt 4 The jaws 3 and 4 are intended to receive and grip between them the butt 5 of a bobbin 6. In order that the jaws may grip the bobbin securely and may hold it in a definite fixed position within the bobbin cavity, their inner surfaces are provided with one or more substantially vertical elongate recesses or indentations 5 (Fig. 2) which are adapted to receive circumferential ribs on the butt 5 of the bobbin. Such ribs usually consist of steel rings embracing the bobbin butt and securely fixed in position.

In accordance with the present invention I provide a guideway or channel 2 in the wood of the shuttle body, extending from the bobbin cavity 2 toward the tip of the shuttle, and this guideway or channel is designed to receive a slide member I forming a part of my improved bobbin-positioning device. This slide member may, for convenience, be made from a piece of sheet metal by stamping or the like, and is preferably furnished with an elongate slot II adapted to receive a screw I2 or equivalent device for holding the slide member in assembled, sliding relation to the shuttle body. In practice I have found that the length of the slot I I need not be greater than to provide for a longitudinal movement of the slide I of the order of one-eighth inch in order to obtain desirable results.

The left-hand end of the slide member I as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, preferably merges integrally into the upper end of an inclined guide member I, which extends downwardly into the bobbin cavity and into the space between the jaws 3 and 4. At its lower end this inclined guide also merges, preferably integrally, into the upper end of a substantially vertical abutment member 8. The lower end of this abutment member in turn is connected, preferably integrally, with a substantially horizontal foot member I3 which may, as illustrated in Fig. 4, be somewhat wider than the guide I and the abutment 8, and which is adapted to slide in contact with the lower edges of the jaws 3 and 4. To receive this foot and permit it to slide, the fioor of the shuttle body at this point may be spaced slightly, as shown at I3=-, below the lower edges of the jaws.

An equalizer member I4 is arranged to engage the inner surface of the abutment member 8 and this equalizer member is preferably provided with ears I4 having vertically aligned opening I4 for the reception of a substantially vertical pivot element I5 of a coiled compression spring I5, the

opposite end of which conveniently bears against the vertical face of the block 3 When the parts are assembled, the spring I5 urges the abutment 8 to the left, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, the length of the slot I I being such that even though a bobbin butt of abnormally short length be introduced between the shuttle jaws, the abutment 8 will still be effective to push such butt lengthwise until its rings safely register with and snap into the recesses in the shuttle jaws. On the other hand, since the abutment 8 and the guide I are free to slide longitudinally in opposition to the force exerted by the spring I5, the abutment may take up such a position that an abnormally long bobbin butt may also be driven down between the jaws and assume a position such that its rings properly register with the recesses 5 When the bobbin butt is delivered by the replenishing mechanism substantially at the position indicated at I5 in Fig. 2, its continued downward movement by the doff hammer causes it to strike the inclined guide I and the impact of the blow causes the slide member I with the guide I and abutment 8, to retreat slightly toward the end of the shuttle, thus cushioning the blow. However, the spring I 5 is quite stiff, and as the bobbin butt continues down into its final position, this spring reasserts itself, and as the end of the butt comes into contact with the abutment 8, the latter acts to force the bobbin butt lengthwise of the shuttle and insure the proper registry of its rings with the jaw recesses.

Since the equalizer member I4 may swivel on the part I5* there is no danger that the free sliding of the member I will be interfered with as by a cramping action due to the spring pressure, and thus the proper yielding of the guide I and the abutment 8 is assured.

While I have illustrated one desirable embodiment of the invention by way of example, I wish it to be understood that other and equivalent arrangements of parts may be employed for the purpose without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A weaving shuttle for a weft replenishing loom, said shuttle having a pair of spaced resilient bobbin gripping jaws and a bobbin-positioning abutment, said abutment being bodily slidable longitudinally of the shuttle to an extent sufficient to accommodate bobbin butts of different lengths, and a spring urging said abutment longitudinally in one direction.

2. A weaving shuttle for a weft replenishing loom, said shuttle having a pair of spaced bobbin gripping jaws and a bobbin-positioning abutment, said abutment being slidable longitudinally of the shuttle, means limiting such movement of the abutment, and a spring urging the abutment toward one limit of its movement.

3. A weaving shuttle having a bobbin cavity and a pair of spaced resilient bobbin gripping jaws adjacent to one end of the cavity, and a combined bobbin guide and abutment disposed within the space between the jaws, said guide inclining downwardly toward the upper end of the abutment, the combined guide and abutment being movable longitudinally of the shuttle, and resilient means urging the combined guide and abutment lengthwise of the shuttle in one direction.

4. A weaving shuttle having, adjacent to one of its ends, a pair of spaced resilient jaws arranged to grip the butt of a bobbin between them, and an abutment engageable by the end of the bobbin butt, thereby to determine the longitudinal position of such butt relative to the jaws, said abutment being movable longitudinally of the shuttle and relatively to the jaws to an extent sufficient to accommodate bobbin butts of different lengths and a spring urging said abutment toward the opposite end of the shuttle.

5. In combination with a shuttle'having a pair of spaced resilient bobbin gripping jaws having recesses in their inner surfaces, and a bobbin butt having an external ring designed to seat in the recesses of the opposed jaws, thereby to hold the bobbin firmly in position, an abutment member engageable by the end surface of the bobbin butt, thereby to determine the position of the bobbin lengthwise of the shuttle, said abutment being movable bodily lengthwise of the shuttle to vary its distance longitudinally from the recesses in the jaws, thereby to accommodate bobbin butts of diiierent lengths, means limiting such movement of the abutment, and a spring urging the abutment toward one limit of its movement.

6. A combined bobbin abutment and guide for a shuttle comprising a slide member constructed and arranged to slide longitudinally of the shuttle, said slide member having an elongate slot for the reception of an attaching element, an inclined guide carried by the slide member, a substantially vertical abutment at the lower end of the guide, and spring means operative to urge the abutment together with the guide and slide member longitudinally of the shuttle.

'7. A shuttle having a bobbin cavity, a pair of bobbin gripping jaws at one end of the cavity, an elongate guideway leading toward the end of the shuttle from said end of the cavity, a slide member bodily movable along said guideway, means limiting movement of the slide member, an inclined guide leading from the slide member downwardly into the bobbin cavity and between the jaws, a substantially vertical abutment at the lower end of the guide, a foot at the lower end of the abutment arranged to slide in a space beneath the lower edges of the jaws, and spring means reacting against said vertical abutment and urging the slide member, with the guide and abutment, lengthwise of the bobbin cavity.

8. A shuttle having a bobbin cavity, a pair of bobbin gripping jaws at one end of the cavity, an elongate guideway leading toward the end of the shuttle from said end of the cavity, a slide member movable along said guideway, means limiting movement of the slide member, an inclined guide leading from the slide member downwardly into the bobbin cavity and between the jaws, a substantially vertical abutment at the lower end of the guide, and a spring bearing against the abutment and urging the abutment lengthwise of the bobbin cavity.

9. A shuttle having a body provided with a bobbin cavity, a pair of resilient bobbin gripping jaws at one end of the cavity, a spacer block interposed between said jaws at one end of the latter, a guide channel in the upper part of the shuttle body leading from the bobbin cavity toward the tip of the shuttle, a slide member arranged in said channel, said slide member having an elongate slot therein, a screw passing through said slot into the shuttle body, thereby holding the slide member in assembled relation to the shuttle body but allowing limited movement of the slide member longitudinally of the shuttle, said slide member having an integral extension inclining downwardly and forming a guide leading into the space between the jaws, said extension merging with the upper end of a substantially vertical abutment, a substantially horizontal foot at the lower end of the abutment arranged to slide in substantial contact with the lower edges of the jaws, an equalizer engaging the inner surface of the abutment, and a compression spring interposed between said equalizer and the spacer block.

LOUIS VISCOLOSI. 

